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Weekend Odds ‘n Ends

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Unbelievably, we’re heading into the final full week of regular season baseball. Here are some standout thoughts from the week that was:

  1. 21 wins, 6 strikeouts for every walk issued, both the best in baseball. 0.978 walks and hits per 9 IP, the best in the American League. Among Sox starters, a club-best 3.08 ERA and a club-best 148 ERA+. Seriously, how really thought Rick Porcello would have the year he’s had in 2016?
  2. Enjoyed Ken Rosenthal’s report on how Dustin Pedroia kickstarted his season with the help of his friend, Andre Ethier. Nice details, too, on what it’s like for Andrew Benintendi, who became roommates with Pedroia and Aaron Hill, once Pedroia’s family headed back to Arizona for the start of the school year.
  3. Sandy León ended an 0-for-17 slide on Thursday but still opened that day with a .316 AVG on the season, speaking to his absolutely torrid mid-summer performance. He was 22-for-61 (.361) from July 3rd to 31st and 18-for-41 (.439) over 12 games in mid-August. He’s solid behind the plate and offensively may still come back around down the stretch.
  4. Xander Bogaerts, who batted just .219 in August and .221 thus far in September, may not crack 200 hits this season. He projects out to about 194 at this point, with the projection skewed by his solid early season batting average. For the combined months of May and June, Bogaerts was 83-for-229 (.362). In those 54 games, Bogaerts had a club-best 45 hits, the most of any Sox player. In the 49 games since August 1st, however, Bogaerts has a hit in 28 of them, whereas Mookie Betts has hit in a club-best 42 of those games. Betts, of course, has already surpassed the 200 hit milestone this season and Pedroia projects out to finish with 204, which would be his most since a career high of 213 hits in his All-Star 2008 season. Only three times before have the Sox had two players with 200+ hits, most recently Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez in 2011.
  5. Benintendi’s second career home run on Wednesday was the club’s 200th in 2016, making Boston one of eight teams with 200+ HR this season. It’s the Sox’ 10th season with 200+ HR since at least 1913. The Mets and Rays crossed the 200 HR threshold for the first time in their franchise histories this year, leaving four Major League teams that have never hit 200: Royals (139 as of this writing), Padres (168), Nationals (193), and Pirates (146). The Red Sox’ last 200+ HR season was in 2011 (203). Their most HRs in a single season since 1913 was 238 in 2003.
Rick Porcello


Rick Porcello
flickr photo shared by Keith Allison under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

  1. If the season ended at the time of this writing, the Red Sox would face the Indians in the American League Division Series. This season, Boston leads that match-up 4-games-to-2 (2-1 both at home and in Cleveland). Since 2013, when Tribe manager Terry Francona took the helm, Boston has bested Cleveland  14-12 (9-5 at home, but 5-7 at Progressive Field).
  2. We’ve looked at David Ortiz‘ remarkable performance this season as a player, just like anyone else. We’ve looked at his incredible performance compared to others playing at age 40 or older. Now, we look at Big Papi as compared with others in their last season and, not surprisingly, it’s still a great story.
  3. The Cardinals recently ended a streak of 25 straight games with a home run, tying a National League record and breaking their own, which was set in 2006 (19). The Padres also collected 25 straight games this season with a home run. Both teams jumped ahead of the Red Sox, who still hold the American League lead in 2016 with HRs in 22 straight, April 29 to May 22, going 15-7 for that span of games. The 2002 Rangers hold baseball’s overall record for consecutive games with a HR (27)
  4. With the way he’s been clubbing the ball of late, who doubts that Hanley Ramírez will connect for one more home run? That would give Ramírez 30 on the season for just the second time in his career and the first time since belting 33 in his 2008 All-Star season. It would join the Red Sox with the Orioles as the only teams this season with three such players (including Betts and Ortiz), something that hasn’t happened for Boston since 1977 (Butch Hobson, Jim Rice, George Scott).

Papi Not Only Storyline of 2016

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The outstanding final year for David Ortiz shouldn’t overshadow the contributions to the Red Sox up and down the line up and, indeed, among some of the pitching staff, too.

As the penultimate month of the 2016 season draws to a close, Boston remains in contention, thanks in large measure to its prodigious offensive strength. The Red Sox still lead the major leagues in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Consequently, they also lead in hits, runs scored and runs batted in.

Ortiz crossed the 100 RBI milestone this past week for the 10th time in his career. As of this writing he’s on pace for 125 runs batted, which would stand as his fourth most in a single season. That he’s doing it in his age-40 season is all the more remarkable. Papi’s top run production came in 2005, when he was responsible for 148 RBI or fully 17.1% of the club’s total production (863 RBI).

Ortiz career RBI

Spreading the Load

Ortiz’ RBI contribution to the Sox in 2016 is just shy of 15% of the club’s total run production. Thirteen other MLB teams this season have received 15% of more of their total production from their RBI leader. That’s a substantial uptick from last season, when only six clubs had that many of their runs coming solely from their RBI leader.And while Ortiz is Boston’s leader for RBI (and doubles, home runs, walks, and OPS), the Sox, unlike some other teams, haven’t had to rely upon him solely for getting runs on the board.

Red Sox RBI in 2016

The 2016 Red Sox are the only major league club with four players (Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Hanley Ramirez, and Ortiz) to have 75 or more RBI this season. Three clubs, the Cubs, Reds, and Mariners, each have 3 players with at least that many RBI this season.

It’s impressive to see one player have such an impact on a club, but when it happens, it underscores the weakness that such reliance can create.

Sole Producers

Across all of baseball, the Angels have relied most on their RBI leader, Albert Pujols. To date, he’s responsible for nearly a fifth of Los Angeles’ run production this season, highlighting his nearly irreplaceable importance to the club overall. Pujols and Mike Trout are the only Angels this season with at least 75 RBI.

Of particular note to Boston fans looking ahead to an Papi-free lineup in 2017 is free-agent-to-be Edwin Encarnacion. His 106 RBIs account for more than 17% of Toronto’s total run production in 2016. Signing Encarnacion to Boston would simultaneously power the Sox lineup and hand a blow to powerful division rival. Encarnacion, a three-time All Star, has collected at least 98 RBI in each of the last five seasons and, focused no doubt by his impending free agency windfall, is just five from matching his career high of 111 RBI in 2015.

RBI Team Effort

When it comes to the importance of a single contributor, the Red Sox reliance on Ortiz puts them in the middle of the pack.

Noteworthy, though, are clubs like the Pirates, Tigers, Giants, Mets, and especially the Cardinals.

To greater or lesser degrees, these teams are all in playoff contention, but none have relied on any one player to deliver a high percentage of their total runs.

RBI Leader Contributions, All MLB Teams, Through August 30, 2016

In fact, St. Louis has scored the fourth most runs in all of baseball but its RBI leader, Stephen Piscotty, has accounted for just 73 of them, or less than 12%. Instead, the Cardinals load is spread among six players with 50 or more RBI this season.


Red Sox Triple Threat

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The triple is notoriously difficult to come by. Whereas Major League teams are averaging 8½ hits, 1.69 doubles, and 1.07 home runs per game this season, they have averaged just 0.18 triples per game.

The scarcity of triples is no aberration. You just don’t see many triples in baseball. The last time baseball’s average triples got higher than 0.30 per game was 1954.

But these are your 2016 Red Sox, equipped with an explosive offense. No surprise, then, they started Wednesday already leading the American League with 13 triples and collected two more that evening, both coming off the bat of catcher-turned-outfielder Blake Swihart. In 2016 the Sox are averaging 0.33 triples per game.

With his two triples Swihart joins Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley as the third Red Sox batter this season with a multiple triple game. No other club has more than one such player this season: the Cardinals Kolten Wong, the Giants Gregor Blanco, and the Rockies Trevor Story.

No Red Sox team has had three or more players with multiple triples in games of the same season since Carl Yastrzemski, George Scott, Joe Foy, and Tony Conigliaro managed it in the 1967 season on April 16, May 16, June 23, and July 19, respectively.

Before the 2016 Red Sox, the last team to have three players with two triples in a game during the same season was 1992. In that year the Phillies Mickey Morandini, Tom Marsh, and, in a twist of fate, current Red Sox first base coach Ruben Amaro each managed two triples in games on July 18, September 13, and September 26 of that year, respectively. Also in 1992, the White Sox Steve Sax, Lance Johnson, and Tim Raines managed the feat in games on May 17, September 14, and October 1, respectively.

Sox Offense Making Quick Impressions

Wednesday’s was Boston’s 46th game of 2016. That the Red Sox have three players with multiple-triples games so early in the season underscores this Boston team’s potent offense.

You have to go back to the 1962 Pirates—54 years ago—to find another club that has accomplished what the Red Sox have so quickly. In that year, Pittsburgh’s Bill Virdon, Bob Skinner, and Don Hoak managed their triple threat on May 16, May 25, and June 2nd, respectively. That last game was, as Boston’s was Wednesday, the club’s 46th of the season.

Since at least 1913, Boston had never achieved such a feat before Game #46.


Sunday Morning Odds ‘n Ends

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Red Sox offensive consistency, the great Jackie Robinson, and the late Bob Sheppard, among other topics, have made their way into this Sunday Morning’s Odds ‘n Ends:

  1. After avoiding a sweep in the first homestand of the season, the Red Sox have gone on to win three in a row, including two more Friday and Saturday from a tough Blue Jays team. Except for one game when they were shut out by Toronto in their first series match up, the Sox have scored four or more runs in every game this season and five runs or more in seven of their first 10 games. Lest that leaves us too euphoric, the Sox scored five or more runs in seven of their first 10 games of 2015, too. In fact, the 2015 club averaged 5.9 runs/game over their first ten compared with 5.3 runs/game this year. They key, of course, will be consistency. In 2015, Sox offense sputtered to just 3.2 runs/game in the 30 games following the first 10.
  2. Until Friday, the Tigers had scored four or more runs in every game of their new season. Those first eight games tied the club for the 10th longest such streak ever in the American League to start a season. It also edges the seven game record Detroit amassed to start the 2015 campaign. The Red Sox own the AL record for the most games with 4+ runs to start a season: 18 from April 7-28, 1978.
  3. "<strongThis week we celebrated Jackie Robinson Day around baseball (and why not watch Ken Burns’ outstanding new documentary, while we’re on the topic). It was 71 years ago that Robinson signed a pro contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first step to breaking the color barrier on April 15, 1947. In April 1945 the Red Sox evaluated Robinson and fellow Negro Leagers Sam Jethroe and Marvin Williams but had interest in none of them. Boston was the very last club to integrate.
  4. Red Sox fans of a certain age can conjure up the sound of Bob Sheppard’s voice pretty easily. For decades Sheppard was the iconic public address announcer for the Yankees. Today is the 65 anniversary of his first game there in 1951; it was the day Mickey Mantle debuted in his first Major League game. Incredibly, Sheppard was also the public address announcer of the New York Giants for 50 seasons. He retired from the Yankees in 2007 and died in 2010, but his voice lived on for a time. Derek Jeter asked Sheppard to record Jeter’s introduction and he used it every time he came to bat at Yankee Stadium. “That’s the voice I’d heard growing up,” Jeter told CBS New York, “and that’s the only voice I wanted to hear when I was announced at home.”
  5. Mookie Betts is now up to 12 strikeouts on the season, the most on the Red Sox. His 12 SO are the third most among all lead off hitters.
  6. Of the triad for baseball success, offense, fielding, and pitching, the Red Sox are excelling so far in two of three. The Sox entered this weekend batting .280 overall, the 3rd best mark in the AL after the Orioles (.294) and Tigers (.282). Boston’s defense was 2nd best in the AL with a .991 fielding percentage. But the club’s 5.13 ERA was the worst in the league and the 4th worst in baseball. The return of catcher Christian Vazquez bodes well for the pitching staff, however, and had already shown early dividends in Friday’s and Saturday’s games.
  7. The Braves lost nine straight games to start 2016 before finally collecting a win on Friday against the Marlins. It was their worst start since opening 0-10 in 1988. Atlanta started this season with its first winless homestand of five or more games since June 2006 when they lost six games to the Red Sox and Blue Jays.
  8. Instant replay delays are down to an average of one minute and fifty-four seconds through the first 124 MLB games of the year. Of the 72 reviews, 34 calls (47.2%) were overturned.
  9. Tigers catcher and one-time Red Sox Jarrod Saltalamacchia blasted his 100th career home run in grand style last Wednesday. His fourth career grand slam put Detroit ahead 5-2 (the Tigers would go on to beat the Pirates 7-3). Sox fans will recall his last grand slam, a tie breaking blast in the bottom of the seventh inning facing Yankees pitcher Preston Claiborne on September 13, 2013. Saltalamacchia, in his first season with the Tigers, became just the third player with that club since 1913 to have two four-RBI games over the first seven games of a season. For that distinction he joins Miguel Cabrera (in 2009) and Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann (in 1922 and 1929).

Sox Season Starts with Win

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Opening Day 2016There’s simply no better way to start a campaign than with a win. And that’s what we got today, Opening Day 2016, with the Red Sox beating the Indians 6-2 in the start to Boston’s 116th American League season.

The game, postponed from Monday for the cold (the first postponement for the Red Sox on Opening Day since 2009), actually delivered a couple wins for Red Sox fans.

Of course, there’s the score, the only thing that matters. But surely the performance of new Sox ace David Price lived up to its billing. Price earned his first win of the season throwing 103 pitches and allowing two runs on five hits with two walks. He struck out 10.

With Tuesday’s start Price became the first Red Sox pitcher to make his debut with the club in an Opening Day start since David Wells in 2005. And with the win he joined Pedro Martinez (1998), Gary Peters (1970), Dick Ellsworth (1968) and Jim Bagby (1938) as the only five pitchers with a win in their Red Sox debut as an Opening Day starter.

Call the Sox bullpen winners today, too, for a hit-free 3.0 inning performance. Junichi Tazawa opened the 7th, followed by Koji Uehara in his new 8th inning slot, and the debut of new closer Craig Kimbrel.

In all, Red Sox pitchers struck out 15, their most since at least 1913 in an Opening Day game.

David Ortiz, already a double under his belt with the Sox up 4-2 in the 9th inning, hit career home run #504, his fifth ever Opening Day roundtripper and his first to start a season since 2011. The Sox also got two hits apiece from Mookie Betts (including a home run), Brock Holt, Hanley Ramirez, and Travis Shaw (including three strikeouts). Boston’s 11 hits were their most on Opening Day since April 1, 2013 (13).

Dustin Pedroia, who leads all active players with a .421 AVG on Opening Day (minimum 35 plate appearances in openers), ended his Day One hitting streak Tuesday going 0-for-4 with a walk and run scored. Pedroia had hit in all nine career Opening Days since 2007, the longest such streak in club history since Carl Yastrzemski’s 13 Opening Day games from 1968-1980.